Beards boom, and so do businesses catering to them
by Denise Garcia | @denisejaeg
Javier David | CNBC
Politicians sometimes wear them, and so do a few chief executives. Urban hipsters have become synonymous with them, yet rugged outdoorsmen have been sporting them for years.
Beards — having become so popular that they’ve even had an annual movement (“no shave November,” now more or less a year-round display) named after them — are part of a growing category of the male grooming market, which sees more than $6 billion in sales annually, according to Euromonitor data.
The slow decline of clean-shaven faces has given rise to a new male archetype, one that’s becoming a coveted market demographic in its own right and spurring the rise of small businesses that cater to pampering hairy faces.
The movement to “kill the shave” has had the added effect of overshadowing razor blade sales. In a 2015 research report, Euromonitor said men’s toiletries — which include new products such as beard balms, oils, shampoos and conditioners — grew by 4 percent to $3.4 billion. Meanwhile, shaving grew at half that rate, to $2.9 billion. In recent years, some analysts have also attributed stagnating razor blade sales to the rise of beards.